GI Joes & College Joes:

Big Men on Campus

The veterans were not just older than typical college
students. They were mature beyond their years, having traveled far from
home and having endured hardships on the battlefront. Many started families
and wanted to get a degree and a job as soon as possible. Veterans avoided
frivolous undergraduate pastimes, but excelled in varsity athletics, student
government, campus publications, and other extracurricular activities.

While younger classmates sometimes complained about the "eager beavers"
who favored studies over campus social life, the rivalry between veterans
and nonveterans was generally good natured. A spoof in the May 23, 1947,
issue of the Technician proposed a group called Veterans of Future
Wars to lobby Congress for another GI Bill that would allow younger students
to receive benefits down the road. Meanwhile, veteran and student reporter
Jack Fisler engaged in some amiable teasing of his own by pointing out in
the October 1946 State College News that the GI Bill covered all
student fees, so veterans would receive free yearbooks, student newspapers,
and athletic tickets. They could "see the Wolfpack in action. . .
courtesy of Uncle Sam."

Most veterans refused to put up with the hazing that NC State
freshmen had traditionally received from upperclassmen, hastening
the demise of these rituals. On a national level, the Interfraternity
Council worried about decreasing membership figures for Greek
organizations. On a few campuses, albeit not at NC State, WWII
veterans formed an informal fraternity called Chi Gamma Iota,
the Greek letters for "X-G-I."

Even though racial segregation plagued southern colleges
for at least another decade, GI Bill recipients represented
a wider array of religious groups and socioeconomic
backgrounds than other students. Because of their
maturity and academic prowess, they promoted the
acceptance of nontraditional or "returning adult"
students in American higher education. Many North
Carolinians had been exposed to other cultures while
serving in foreign countries or remote parts of the
United States. The Cosmopolitan Club included both
international students and worldly Americans.